Fighting Just Like Old Times
by adama-roslinlove
Summary: Add on to the mom and dad argument in Season 4's Six of One. The fight didn't stop quite where we saw it stop.


**Author's Note: I thought that there needed to be more of that scene in Season 4's Six of One when mom and dad are fighting. So, I wrote this.**

**Disclaimer:** **Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are the property of Ronald D. Moore, David Eick, Sci-fi Network and NBC. No copyright infringement is intended.**

Bill coughs while walking in and pours another glass of alcohol from his decanter. Laura is working on reports, but gets distracted once Bill walks in.

She turns her head toward Bill and says, "You're enjoying that more than usual."

"Hair of the dog. Lee's party," Bill says, once Laura's voice registers in his drunken mind.

Laura snorts and says, "What do we do now? Put her on trial? Find Romo Lampkin? Take a show of hands?"

Bill looks down and says, "I don't know," because he honestly doesn't want to do anything about it.

"Follow her into an ambush?" Laura asks, trying to lead him into a fight.

"She is driven," Bill says, not taking the bait.

"Yeah."

Bill starts walking away from her with his alcohol in hand just trying to get away from Laura and away from the world.

"You gonna keep waltzing or are you gonna sit down and talk? What's going on? Sit," Laura says slightly irritated, pointing at the chair next to the desk. She slides her glasses off her face and puts them on a recently forgotten report. She then takes a sip of water as Bill is slowly sitting down in the chair beside her.

"What if she's telling the truth? She was supposed to die out there. She didn't. I can't explain it. What if she was meant to help us? And this was a…" Bill says before he struggles to say what Laura wants him to say.

"A what? A miracle? Is that what you want to call this? Go ahead, say it. Grab your piece of the golden arrow. I want to hear Admiral atheist say that a miracle happened," Laura says, again trying to start an argument.

"You shot at her and you missed at close range," Bill says and chuckles, obviously having doubts in what Laura says she feels.

"Doloxan fraks with your aim," Laura says.

"So does doubt," Bill says and takes a drink of alcohol.

"I pulled the trigger and I'd do it again. She put her life in front of a bullet as if it had no meaning. You drop an egg, you reach for another," Laura says, trying to effectively end the argument, but failing.

"Maybe convincing you meant more to her than her own life," Bill states.

"Is that your miracle? You want to talk about miracles? On the very same day that a very pale doctor informed me that I had terminal cancer, most of humanity was annihilated, and I survived. And by some mathematical absurdity, I became President. And then my cancer disappeared. Long enough for us to find a way to Earth. You can call it whatever you want. And now I'm dying," Laura says to try and get a rise out of Bill.

"Don't talk that way," Bill says, once again ignoring the fact that she's dying.

"Bill, you gotta face this. My life is coming to an end soon enough. And I am not going to apologize to you for not trusting her. And I am not, I am not going to trust her with the fate of this fleet. You are so buckled up inside. You can't take any more loss. Your son's leaving, this, me. I know it," Laura says, holding up her bandaged hand.

"No one's going anywhere," Bill states with a note of finality and takes a gulp of Ambrosia.

Laura looks up with tears in her eyes and says with a snort, "Okay. Here's the truth. This is what's going on. You want to believe Kara. You would rather be wrong about her and face your own demise than risk losing her again." Tears are rolling down Laura's face because of the look she sees on Bill's face. She has never seen this much anger directed toward her even when he put her in jail.

"You can stay in the room, but get out of my head," Bill says with as much anger as he can manage. He drinks the last of the alcohol in his glass and stands up to get more.

"You're so afraid to live alone," Laura says.

Bill turns back around and says, "And you're afraid to die that way. You're afraid that you may not be the dying leader you thought you were," Laura sadly grins and Bill decides to just be a little bit more mean, "Or that your death may be as meaningless as everyone else's."

Bill walks away and Laura tries to get her emotions under control by reading the reports. She slides her glasses back on with tears going down her face. She tries to play with her hair, when she feels a clump of hair come loose. She gradually pulls it out and puts it on the desk. She completely loses her control so she pulls her glasses back off and cries. She is crying so hard that she is hyperventilating.

Bill walks into the head and closes the door. He sets his glass down on the counter and looks at himself in the mirror. He doesn't even know who the real Bill is anymore, he has turned into this guy that is looking back at him through the mirror. He is old and drunk and angry at the world. He hasn't looked this bad since he left Laura on New Caprica to fend for herself. He turns the facet on and splashes water on his face trying to get a clear mind. He realizes he drank too much, way too much. He walks back out of the head and is about to change his clothes when he hears Laura sobbing uncontrollably. He thinks, 'Frak me. That must have really hurt her. I shouldn't have said those things.'

He walks quietly into the main room and he stops when he sees Laura. Her elbows are propped up on the desk and her head is in her hands. She is shaking and he can see water droplets on the report on the desk. He walks over to her and places his hand gently on her shoulder. He is saddened when he feels her tense up. "Laura…"

"What do want, Bill?" Laura asks, with enough anger in her voice she can muster while crying hard. Even though it is not a lot, Bill still feels disappointed in himself for doing this to her.

"I'm sorry, Laura, for what I said earlier. I didn't mean it like that. I shouldn't have said it and I shouldn't even be thinking it. I'm sorry for what I said and I'm sorry for being drunk. I am just so angry at the world right now and I thought that drinking would make it better. But it obviously makes everything worse. I am so sorry, Laura. I didn't mean to take all of my anger out on you," Bill says with sadness is his voice. Each time he feels Laura gasping for breath from crying, his eyes fill up with more tears. After awhile of silence he begs, "Please say something Laura. I don't know what else to do."

Laura lifts her head up from her hands and wipes the tears off her face. She slowly turns around in her chair. "Bill, what do you want me to say?"

"That you accept my apology or that you hate me or anything. Or yell at me more if you want. I don't care. Just please say something."

"We can't go on like this, Bill. I can't go on like this. I can't have the one person that I can be Laura with hate me. And I can't have the one person that I can be Laura with think that I'm…" Laura suddenly stops and starts crying again, "Ugly or just some sick woman."

"Laura, what are you talking about?" Bill asks, worried why Laura would think that he thought that about her.

She glances over at the clump of hair on his desk and that catches his attention. He looks over to where Laura is looking and sees the hair. He kneels down beside her and takes her hand in his. "Laura, it is impossible to think of you as ugly, even if you do lose your hair. You are more than just your hair. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever known. And I think about you as more than just a sick woman. I think about you as the woman that stole my heart. So please, never think that I hate you, because I don't. I may dislike you at times, but I will always love you. I'm sorry that I shouted at you earlier and took my anger at the world out on you."

'Thank you, Bill. And I accept your apology. Also, thank you for loving me. I know that I shouldn't bring it up, but you were right. I am afraid that my death is going to be as meaningless as everyone else's."

"Laura, to tell you the truth, your death could never be as meaningless as everyone else's, especially to me. You shouldn't ever think that."

"Thank you."

"Well, we should probably be getting ready for bed."

"Yeah," Laura says.

They both stand up and Bill gives Laura a hug. They pull back slightly, just enough for Bill to kiss her. The walk back to the "bedroom" is silent. They both change clothes and get ready for bed. As Bill is heading toward the couch, Laura says, "Bill, you can sleep in the rack tonight."

"Where are you going to sleep? I'm not going to make you sleep on the couch," Bill asks with a confused look on his face.

"I'm gonna sleep in the rack with you," Laura says.

"Are you sure? I mean, do want to take the next step?" Bill asks, hoping that she says yes.

"Bill, of course I want to take the next step. You just admitted that you love me and I'm not going to deny that I love you too."

"Okay," Bill says with a hint of hesitance.

Bill walks back to his rack and climbs in, taking the spot next to the bulkhead. Laura slides in next to him and lies on her side facing the outside of the rack. Bill hesitantly puts his hand on the curve of her side and says, "Is that okay?"

"That is more than okay. Thank you," Laura says. She scoots closer to him so they are spooning and he slides his hand down to her chest just above her heart.

"Good night, Laura. I love you. And I'm sorry."

"Night. I love you too. And it's okay."

**I hope you liked it! Reviews are absolutely loved! So, please review!**


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